Well, I stared at them many a time thinking: “Do I really need this? I don’t need this! Do I need this?” and basically not doing much except mentally talking to myself while standing oddly in stores and potentially scaring the sales team.

But then, after a fortifying three beignets and a round of chandelier staring, I stumbled upon a bejeweled purse-thingy, and I just went for it.  And I LOVE it.  So handy, so easy. So works even with a giant overloaded bag on a random happy hour table.  BEHOLD!!

And a more legitimate (non-action) picture!

And that leads me to a great date idea: Monday dinner and Chess Night! So, here’s how it goes down: head to Dupont in DC or Rittenhouse in Philly and meet your honey.  Bring a chess set or take on one of the uber-talented street chess players (they will usually charge you to play, winner takes all. Plan on losing $2-$5 a game), have fun with a few rounds of chess, take a walk and then have a glass of wine or dinner with your man.  In Philly, we like Parc for wine and frites.  In DC, we feel like a good burger is key, so head to West-End Bistro at the Ritz for some outside eating, or BGR in Dupont North.  Both are AMAZING. And most importantly, you can use your awesome new purse-bag-holder thingy! Yes!! Genius!!

Pros: You get out in the springtime, you enjoy the flowering trees in the city, and you do something different.

Cons: You lose $5 at chess.  But, you laugh hilariously about it and you up your street trash talking game (critical in street chess).

Purse holder here!

It’s the height of winter, way too cold to go out, and I was tired of staying in and not cooking (not cooking = diet coke + salad)… leading me to be tired of salads.  There is just too much salad in my life!

So what is special, romantic, and fun for two people to make together?  Crêpes , mais biensur!

You can learn a lot about a person in the kitchen and this fun dinner will help you get to the bottom of your feelings.

Dinner: Savory crêpes stuffed with shrimp, scallops and asparagus.

Desert: Crêpes with flambéed brandied peaches

For my plan of attack, I decided that the easiest thing was to break down the preparation into stages, leaving plenty of time for you and your love-interest to have an aperitif (why not a Kir royal?):

-       Make the crêpe batter

-       As the batter sits, prep the other ingredients

-       Make the crêpes

-       Make the béchamel sauce

-       Make the seafood

For the crêpes, use the basic recipe for a savory crêpe from your favorite cookbook.  In my case, the Joy of Cooking (Rombauer, Becker) but I found that I had to double the recipe in order to make enough crêpes to see us through to dessert.

The only difference between a savory and sweet crêpe is that you hold the sugar and add at least a ½ teaspoon of salt.

If you’ve never made crêpes before, you might panic when you see how thin the batter is.  That is completely normal.  The crêpes need to be as thin as you can get them.

The crêpe batter will need to sit at least 30 minutes in the fridge, meanwhile, you can clean and prep the asparagus and rinse the seafood.

Once the batter has sat for the appropriate amount of time, go ahead and start making the crêpes.  It turns out that I had no talent for crêpe making and my honey stepped in as my night in shining armor and produced beautiful golden crêpes .  The idea is to work fast: drop a small amount of batter into a hot pan (just barely buttered) and swirl it around off the heat till there is a thin layer coating the entire pan.

If the idea of making crêpes truly terrifies you, you can buy them pre-made in some stores or practice in advance, make them day ahead and just have them ready.  This of course takes most of the fun out of the dinner though.  As a very last resort, the seafood and asparagus with the béchamel sauce would be equally as good over pasta.

Béchamel sauce

This is a great easy sauce that you will drizzle over the seafood, then over the crêpes  It will bring richness to the dish.

After the crêpes were made, I quickly whipped together the béchamel sauce…  I used the basic recipe as found in the Joy of Cooking:

Combine in a sauce pan over very low heat:

-       1 ¼ cup milk

-       A small shallot

-       Pinch nutmeg

Simmer gently for 15 minutes, uncovered to infuse flavor into the milk.  The Joy instructs to discard the onion but I opted to just leave the shallot in.  How can more flavor hurt?

Meanwhile, melt in a medium, heavy sauce pan, over low heat:

-       2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Stir in:

-       2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Cook for a couple of minutes until slightly darkened.

Still, over very low heat, (or even no heat at all), slowly stir in the warmed milk.  Bring the sauce slowly to a simmer, whisking to prevent lumps.

Again, you can strain if desired of just leave it be like I did.  I also added a generous amount of dry white wine to the béchamel to give it a little added flavor.

Once ready, I put the sauce in a double boiler (put the sauce pan in a slightly larger sauce pan with water in it) to keep it warm while I made the seafood.

Seafood

-asparagus tips

- Scallops (halved or quartered depending how big they are)

- Shrimp (again, cut in half or quarter if jumbo shrimp)

- White wine

- Butter

- Shallots (or just plain oinion)

Sautee shallot in lots of butter, add the asparagus tips, cook till the asparagus starts to soften slightly.

Add the shrimp, add the scallops, a big splash of white wine.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Voilà, you are ready to assemble.

Assembling

Put a couple of tablespoons worth of the seafood into the crêpe, drizzle with a little béchamel, close or roll up the crêpe, drizzle with a little more béchamel.

Dessert: Brandied Peach crêpe

Thinly slice a peach, sauté in butter, add brown sugar. When slightly softened, add some brandy, flambé peaches.

Put flambéed peaches in crêpes, roll up, and pour some of the sauce from the peaches. Top with whipped cream if desired.

Wine pairing:

We tried a Marlborough Sauvigon Blanc (Brancott) from New Zealand and loved it… mineral, fresh, and citrusy.  However, the second wine, a Geyser Peak Chardonnay from Alexander Valley, California, had a full, round, slightly sweet component to it that we agreed (oddly enough) accompanied the seafood nicely as well.  Vive la Romance!

Courtesy of kimberlyfaye on Flickr

It’s a beautiful fall day, you have a great man on your arm but an almost empty wallet in your pocket sooo…what do you do?  We say: picnic in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden!  The garden is open during business hours all week (and weekend obviously), and is conveniently located at 700 Constitution Avenue with multiple entrances also off the Mall.  It is possible to buy lunch at the garden café, open all year, or bring a picnic and enjoy the day.

Pros:
•    Cheap!
•    There is art WHILE you eat!
•    Beautiful!
•    You can feel cultured and swanky
•    Did we mention a gorgeous fountain?

Cons:
•    What is some of this art supposed to be?
•    Seriously, this art is confusing.  What are we missing?
•    The food at the garden café is…mediocre at best

Ultimately, we say bring some champagne and go for it.  How often do you get to enjoy Washington DC without having to fight through a horde of tourists in front of some sort of Smithsonian exhibit?  That’s right—NEVER. So go now!